Copilot · Practical walkthrough

Chat, Cowork and agents: hand Copilot a task with clear boundaries

A supplier enquiry should ask for a quote. Give Copilot the facts and stop the job before a draft becomes an order.

Task by Task7 min read

What you'll make

a checked supplier enquiry, drafted by Copilot, with a clear stop before anything is sent or ordered.

What you'll need

a Microsoft 365 work account with Copilot Chat and a few facts about the job. Cowork and agents are optional extras covered in steps 1 and 4; you don’t need them to finish the main task.

Example result.

Could you quote for 40 branded bottles for Thursday 19 November? Please confirm price and lead time. Our budget is not signed off; this is an enquiry, not an order.

1. Open Chat for a text-only draft

In the Microsoft Copilot app, select Chat. Keep this first job in the reply box; Cowork and agents can have additional app access, covered below.

Why this works: a text draft leaves you a clear review point before any external action.

What you should see: the Message Copilot box.

2. Ask for the draft and name the stop point

Give Copilot the facts and say exactly where the job ends.

Draft a short email to [recipient] asking about [what you need]. Use only these facts: [facts]. Keep quantities, dates and approval status exactly as written. Ask for anything we don't know rather than inventing it. Return the text for my review only. Don't send, schedule, order or change anything, and don't use connected services. Stop after [stop point].

[recipient] is the person or team, such as “the sales desk at Riverside Print”. [what you need] is the item or service. [facts] are quantities, dates, budget status and anything unknown. [stop point] is “the draft text” for this job.

Why this works: the facts fix what the email can claim, and the stop point separates a useful draft from a commitment. A prompt isn’t a permission control, though. For anything beyond a draft, rely on the tool’s own approval steps as well.

What you should see: a short draft in the reply, and no mention of anything sent.

3. Check what was written and what was done

Read the draft against your facts. An enquiry shouldn’t have become an order, a hoped-for date a deadline, or an unknown price a quoted one.

Then check what happened, not just what was written. For this text-only Chat request, the expected output is the reply. With Cowork, a confident “Done” isn’t evidence: open the place it worked in and look.

Why this works: text mistakes and action mistakes need different checks. You read the first; you go and look for the second.

What you should see: the draft matches your facts, and the destination (if any) shows a draft, not a sent email.

4. Give Cowork the bigger job, with the stop built in

If your work account has Cowork enabled, you can ask it to find the supplier’s last email and save a draft in Outlook. Workplace use needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence and the organisation’s Cowork and usage-billing setup; a personal-account preview is a different offering. Confirm access with IT, then ask for a plan before work starts.

Find the latest email from [supplier] in my Outlook and save a reply as a draft, using only these facts: [facts]. Before you start, show me your plan as numbered steps. Stop after saving the draft. Don't send it, forward it or contact anyone else.

[supplier] is the sender’s company or name.

Why this works: the plan shows you every step before it runs, so you can spot a “send” step and remove it. Microsoft says Cowork asks for approval before sensitive actions such as communicating with others. Treat that as a second safety net, not the first.

What you should see: a numbered plan that ends at “save draft”, then a reply saved in Drafts.

Check the result

The draft keeps every quantity, date and approval status from your facts.
Anything unknown, such as price or lead time, is asked for, not filled in.
In Cowork, the plan ends where you said it would, and Drafts (not Sent Items) holds the email.
If Cowork asks to send, decline it unless sending was the job.

The usual failure: a polite draft that quietly turns an enquiry into an order: “we’d like to go ahead”, a delivery date, or “our approved order”. It reads fine, which is why it’s easy to miss. Look for any verb that commits you.

Revise only the draft. It currently says [wrong claim], but the facts say [what's true]. Keep everything else and keep it as text for my review. Don't send, order or change anything. If you took any action outside this chat, tell me exactly what and where.

[wrong claim] is the phrase that overreaches. [what’s true] is the matching fact.

Worked example: water bottles for a customer day

Fictional example. Dana in operations needs branded bottles and has these facts:

Item: 40 reusable water bottles, printed with our logo
Needed for: customer day, Thursday 19 November
Budget: not yet signed off
Unknown: price, lead time
Supplier: Riverside Print, sales desk

Run 1, Chat. Copilot’s first draft says: “We’d like to go ahead with 40 bottles. Please deliver by 12 November.” Two problems: “go ahead” is an order, and 12 November was never in the facts. Dana uses the repair prompt with “we’d like to go ahead … deliver by 12 November” and “budget isn’t signed off; we need the bottles for 19 November”. The revised draft matches the example result at the top of this page.

Run 2, Cowork. Dana asks Cowork to draft the reply in Outlook. Its plan (illustrative):

Find the latest email from Riverside Print.
Draft a reply using the facts.
Send the reply.

Step 3 is the problem. Dana replies “Remove step 3 and stop after saving the draft”, checks the revised plan, then lets it run. Afterwards she opens Drafts and finds the reply there, and Sent Items has nothing new.

The wording failure and the action failure looked different, so each needed its own check.
Asking for the plan first was what exposed the send step.
The final check was in Outlook, not in Cowork’s “Done” message.

Go deeper

Choose the mode for the job

Option	What it does and how to start	Check before you trust “done”
Chat	Answers, drafts and revises text. Select Chat. Works on a business Microsoft 365 account; with a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence it can also use your emails, meetings and files.	The text in the reply; confirm that no connected action was requested.
Cowork	Carries out multistep tasks: creates files, drafts and sends email, manages your calendar. Select Cowork. On a work account it needs a Copilot licence, Cowork turned on by your admin and usage-based billing enabled.	Its progress updates, any approval request, and the place it worked in, such as Outlook Drafts or Sent Items.
Agent	Does one specific job, often with your organisation’s sources. Select Agents, then a listed agent or All agents. Availability depends on your organisation’s settings.	Which sources it used and what actions it can take.

Check an agent’s scope before you use it

An agent’s name tells you its job, not its access. Before giving it real material, open it from Agents and read its description: which sources it uses and whether it can take actions such as posting or sending. Give it the same facts and stop point you’d give Chat. When a job keeps growing, see what an agent must not finish and choosing work or web sources in Copilot.

If something was sent that shouldn’t have been

Stop the task first. Cowork lets you stop a task while it runs. Then check the destination to see exactly what went out and to whom, and tell the person who owns the supplier relationship. Don’t ask Copilot to “undo” it or to word a correction that hides what happened; a short, honest follow-up from you is better.